Cop Craft – Dragnet Mirage Reloaded

"Translator: ClefRunner"

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Because Nyath had been doing things quickly, all of the students were still inside the classroom. They seemed to have caught up to their situation after seeing Nyath enter the classroom carrying a gun, but they were still frozen in place on their seats.

Nyath was specifically looking for two people in that classroom. Emma Sehlam and Ghili Norton.

Emma was an obvious choice. She was the scum that had been getting the drugs from Mendoza, and selling them to Norune and other students. And that night she was the one that had pressured Norune into taking a ridiculous amount of drugs. And she was also the one giving instructions to the already dead Donna and Jessica. She told Ghili and his gang to do as they pleased with her. She was the culprit of it all.

Ghili was the leader of the group of guys that had assaulted Norune. He had a crush on Emma, but it always stayed one sided, and he seemed to resent her somewhat for it. That night Emma told him that she would show him “something awesome”, and took him to Norune… then he did nauseating things to her, and ultimately threw her out on the street and let her die.

Norune. My friend Norune. They did that to—

「Ny… eh… Nyath. Stop this nonsense please」

Ghili spoke. The manliest of all men, the true leader of the classroom, took the initiative and stood up, in an attempt to protect his classmates.

「I’m surprised. You even remembered my name」 「Of course! I had been meaning to become your friend for a long—」

One shot to his leg. Everybody screamed in terror.

Ghili cowered on the spot. Blood was flowing down his thigh.

「What are you doing…?! I was just—」 「Do you have any words for Norune?」 「What?」 「Norune. Try saying out loud what you did to her!」 「Wha, what are you talking ab—」

One shot to his shoulder. Ghili screamed in pain and he started breathing repeatedly very quickly.

「Please stop…」 「You’re trying to play dumb at a time like this? You know what you did. Say it out loud right here, say what you did to Norune!」 「That’s right, I fucked her!」 Ghili shouted with no shame or dignity.

「But I didn’t force her to do anything! A bitch like that was having fun! But we went a little too far and… I was freaking out as well! Can’t you understand that?! I never thought that it would get to that point!」 「And then you just showed up to school looking fine as if nothing had happened?」 「I wasn’t fine. But I had to pretend I was. I have a future, you know? And my parents expect things of me. There’s no way I could stumble over something like this!」

A future… a future? In that case, what about her future? And what about my future…?

「And did you think that you could get away with it?」 「Hey, I really felt sorry for her. But a woman like that—」

That was enough. Nyath looked carefully at Ghili’s face, covered in tears and snot, and fired in full auto mode. This time he didn’t scream, and simply fell down among a sea of flesh and blood. The surrounding students had been crying and shrieking for a while already.

「Get out!」

He ordered all of them. They were all frozen in place.

「Everyone except Emma. Get out of here right now!」

He shot a few times at the ceiling and the students screamed once more— their screams sounded just like some filthy pigs shrieking— and then all of them left the classroom where the slaughter had just taken place.

「Alright then…」

He was talking directly to Emma Sehlam, who had been left behind without much say on the matter. She was crying.

She had shrunk her shaking shoulders, and her eyes were completely red, and her face was covered in tears, snot and drool. There was nothing cool or stylish about her at all. She was completely paralized because of fear, and wasn’t fighting back. The storm of raging violence had taken away all will to run away, and instead she was just a defenseless earthling waiting for her life to end.

「Does the queen bee have any last words for the audience?」 「Help me…」 「Try saying something else. You reap what you sow」 「I’m sorry. Help me…」 「Something you want to say to Norune?」 「I don’t know. Help, help me!!」

Emma let out a panicked scream just by seeing the barrel of the gun shake, and she kept repeating “help me” like a broken record.

「No, “I don’t know” is not it, right?. The reason she ended up precisely like that, Emma, is because you fired up your own friends. You were looking at her. After everybody had toyed around with her, you looked at her dead body, and what did you do?」 「Help me」 「You laughed. Didn’t you?! You were laughing!」 「Daddy…」 「Daddy?! You were the mastermind behind it! You planned everything that happened to her. Everything that happened to Norune! Say it! What happened to her?! Try explaining it to me!」 「Ah!!」

Nyath had grabbed her by the hair and was shouting at her.

Emma didn’t show any signs of answering his questions. She was just freaking out, and bawling, looking as if she had run out of any ideas to try to preserve her own life.

What a stupid girl. At least Ghili was upfront about what he had done. Seems like he was the better person between the two. This girl simply won’t admit her own crime. And in the end she just called out to “daddy”.

Nyath put the Tec-9 that had become hot after shooting several times close to Emma.

「Look at this gun」 「Help me, help me…」 「Look at it. Open your eyes. Look at the fucking gun!」 「No, no, no, no…」

That’s enough. Time to kill her.

If you won’t even confess, then I’ll do whatever I want. Then again, I wasn’t really expecting to have an honest conversation with people like you…

「Nyath!!」

That was a new voice.

The one who burst into the classroom screaming was Tilarna Elnebara. Her face looked somewhat confused, angry and sad at the same time. It looked like she had run from the bus stop with all her might. Her breath was agitated. For some reason, she had brought her baseball bat case with her. She always carried it with her.

「Tilarna. Why are you here?」

Even though I told her to stay right there. You can’t be here. I don’t want you to see me while I look like this. You’re my last friend, and you’re completely unrelated to all this violence…

「Nyath. Throw your gun away right now」

Tilarna said, looking as if she had completely detached herself from her confusion. She took her Farbanian Krége out of its case, and was pointing it straight at Nyath.

A sword? Why did she have something like that?

「I’ll say it once more. You’ll throw your gun away right now」

Next she threw her case away, and she took out a small pouch from within her Sherwood High uniform. She opened it up and pointed it towards Nyath.

It was an ID card. Some kind of golden badge. It had the shape of San Teresa city’s outer boundaries.

DETECTIVE SAN TERESA POLICE DEPARTMENT

It read.

「Tilarna…?」 「I’m a police officer. You’re under arrest」

The badge felt heavier than she had ever thought before. Even heavier than her Baifaht class sword. Even heavier than a Thonmart class shield. She could feel deep grief as she had to point that badge towards Nyath.

「The police…?」

Nyath muttered. Almost as if he had fallen deep into a slumber.

「I am officer Tilarna Exedilika, part of San Teresa City’s Police Department’s special Vice Squad… Nyath Maybell. Put your weapon on the floor slowly, and get away from that woman. Raise both your arms… slowly.」 「An officer…? You’re an… officer?」

Nyath was stuck in place, shaking his head from side to side over and over again.

「What are you even saying? Put down that replica… put it away. You… you shouldn’t even be here. Please get out.」 「No. I will only go out after taking that gun away from you.」

She took a step forward. Nyath was still pointing the gun towards Emma, motionless.

「The police…? No way…」 「I infiltrated this school to investigate Norune's circumstances. To find out the truth about her death, and investigate any further connections. Even though I got no results, things turned out this way…」 「So you were just… all the time? You used me?」 「That’s not true!」

Even though she had been controlling her rage and speaking calmly, she couldn’t stop herself from raising her voice right then.

「Meeting you was… pure coincidence. There was no way I would know about all this」 「Liar」 「I’m not lying, Nyath. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Norune, but I just wasn’t allowed to do it. It was my duty, so…」

Nyath looked like he was gradually coming to terms with the circumstances. He looked angry, he looked like he was about to laugh, and cry… and he shook his head repeatedly several times as such complex emotions sprung up from within.

「That’s just… ah… fuck…」 「Nyath, put your gun down. You can still make it」 「Haha… are you going to get a medal or something for the great achievement of arresting me?」 「I have no interest in any of that. I just want to help you」 「Don’t come any closer!」

Nyath grabbed the crying Emma by the neck, and made her kneel in front of him. Putting her right between Tilarna and himself.

He must have been around ten feet away.

She had to distract him somehow, if only there were a way to strike him on the nape with the back of her sword.

No, that will be too difficult. He’s too far away, and Emma’s in the way. And I can’t just charge in cutting everything in the way.

She could hear the sound of sirens from outside the window. Was it the officers that had come to assist her? She could hear people screaming and roaring. She could also hear the sound of patrol cars suddenly braking.

「I’ll help you. Let’s think things through together」 「You’re a little too late, Tilarna」 「That’s not true」 「No. There’s nothing to be done now」

Time was still running. Tilarna called out to him time and time again, and she kept trying to convince him to drop his gun. How long had it been since she had arrived at that classroom?

Ten minutes? No, twenty minutes?

She wasn’t sure. But it had felt like she had both been through an eternity, and only a few instants of that. And she was feeling awfully fatigued.

The tip of her Krége was trembling quickly.

「Nyath. This school is getting besieged any minute now. You need to surrender」 「Let’s say I surrender. And then what?」 「You’re still underage. And you still have the actions taken by your victims, by this girl and her friends. Maybe if you went to trial, you got get a somewhat lighter sentence.」 「No way」

He laughed.

「I’ve already killed eight people. No, nine. And if more than half of the jurors are earthlings, then they won’t do absolutely anything for me. But that’s fine by me. This woman… These guys were all scum. As long as I’m able to carry out justice right here, I’ll be satisfied」 「You don’t have to do that, Nyath. As long as it can be proven, I’m sure she will be judged accordingly for her crimes. We just need to take our time and do things the right way」

What an ironic thing to say. She was saying something completely opposite of what her regular self believed.

She sounded just like a Dorini

「No way. The best you could do is pay the salaries of several different lawyers, and even then she could get away just by talking. Don’t you watch the news? That’s all you ever see」 「Please stop, Nyath」

She would start crying as well if she wasn’t careful.

How pathetic. As a member of the Milvoa knights, and the eldest daughter of the Exedilika family, I can’t cry in a place like this.

「Norune was my friend. She was nice to me, and she was a serious, good girl. That’s what they… what these guys…!」 「A serious and good girl?! What a joke!」

Emma, who had been sobbing up to that moment, blurted out without holding back

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